Secretary-General

Noon briefing of 19 May 2005


HIGHLIGHTS OF THE SPOKESMAN'S NOON BRIEFING

BY STEPHANE DUJARRIC
ASSOCIATE SPOKESMAN FOR THE SECRETARY-GENERAL

UN HEADQUARTERS, NEW YORK

Thursday, May 19, 2005

MEMBER STATES MUST AGREE ON WHAT THEY WANT UNITED NATIONS TO DO
AND THEN FUND IT PROPERLY

  • Chef de Cabinet Mark Malloch Brown today assured members of the U.S. House of Representatives that the reforms being envisaged for the United Nations mean nothing less than a transformation of the organization, from one that organizes conferences and writes reports to one that is equipped to undertake large, complex, global missions.

  • Speaking to the House’s Committee on International Relations, Malloch Brown said that the United Nations has made enormous strides over the past few years in many operational areas. But, he added, it has some real issues of audit oversight, management accountability, financial disclosure and general performance that it urgently needs to get right.

  • He discussed immediate management reforms already being undertaken, and said that a number of systemic measures, to disentangle the gridlock at the center of staff-management relations, are also planned. Added to that, he said, is the longer-term agenda described in the Secretary-General’s “In Larger Freedom” report.

  • Malloch Brown told Congress that what is needed for a long-term, sustainable solution is for the United States and fellow Member States to agree what they want the UN to do, and then fund it properly to do the task well.

  • Asked about the powers the Secretary-General was seeking, the Spokesman said the issue is to give the Secretary-General greater leeway in a number of personnel management issues, and to grant him the executive powers he needs to manage the programs that Member States want implemented.

  • Asked whether some UN programs are under-funded, the Spokesman said that some were. He added that there was an issue of reviewing mandates to see if they are still applicable to the work of the United Nations.

DEPUTY SECRETARY-GENERAL, IN CANADA, DISCUSSES U.N. REFORM

  • Deputy Secretary-General Louise Frechette presented today a keynote address at the seventh annual Ministerial Meeting of the Human Security Network taking place in Ottawa, Canada.

  • The meeting, which was opened by Canadian Foreign Minister Pettigrew and attended by a number of other Foreign Ministers, other foreign officials and non-governmental organization representatives, will look at human security in the context of UN reforms.

  • The Human Security Network is a group of countries from different parts of the world that maintains dialogue on questions pertaining to human security, by pursuing security policies that focus on the protection and security requirement of the individual and society through promoting freedom from fear and freedom from want.

U.N. REFORM ENVOYS EXPLAINS ANNAN’S PROPOSALS THROUGHOUT WORLD

  • The Secretary-General’s five envoys continue to be actively involved in promoting the reform proposals.

  • They have visited many capitals in different parts of the world, as well as participated in a number of multilateral conferences and meetings.

  • At the recent Summit of the Council of Europe in Warsaw, Vaira Vike-Freiberga delivered a message on behalf of the Secretary-General, while Dermot Ahern offered an update on how the “In Larger Freedom” proposals are being received around the world. In the preceding weeks, they also had separate bilateral meetings with several of their European counterparts.

  • Meanwhile Ernesto Zedillo took part in the recent meeting of the Community of Democracies in Santiago, Chile.

  • His colleague Ali Alatas met with the President of Indonesia and the Foreign Minister of Malaysia also to discuss reform.

  • Lastly Joachim Chissano is currently visiting African countries, including South Africa, Tanzania, Angola and Zimbabwe.

  • The Secretary-General will have an opportunity to meet with his envoys early next month in New York.

U.N. PEACEKEEPERS LEAVE TIMOR-LESTE

  • The mandate of the UN Mission of Support in Timor-Leste comes to an official end tomorrow.

  • Today, in a ceremony at the Mission’s Headquarters in Dili, Timor-Leste’s President, Xanana Gusmão, and the Secretary-General’s Special Representative in the country, Sukehiro Hasegawa, bid a final farewell to UN peacekeepers.

  • At the event, Hasegawa said the peacekeepers’ departure showed the world’s recognition of Timor-Leste as a safe and peaceful country, which was able to assume responsibility for its own security.

  • The new UN political mission, which will replace the peacekeeping mission, will be in the country until 20 May 2006 and will help ensure that Timor-Leste continues its journey towards self-sufficiency and self-reliance.

COMMISSION OF EXPERTS ON HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS IN TIMOR-LESTE
MEETS WITH INDONESIAN OFFICIALS

  • The three-member Commission of Experts that the Secretary-General set up to review the prosecution of serious human rights violations committed in East Timor in 1999 arrived in Indonesia last night, and is meeting today and tomorrow with senior Indonesian officials. Indonesia’s President and Foreign Minister are among those whom the Commission is meeting.

  • The Secretary-General established the Commission in January to assess the progress made by the judicial processes in Dili and Jakarta, and make recommendations to the Secretary-General with regard to possible future actions.

BURUNDI: POLITICAL LEADERS URGED TO REFRAIN
FROM VIOLENCE DURING ELECTIONS

  • The Special Representative for Burundi, Carolyn McAskie, and Mamadou Bah, African Union Representative in Burundi, jointly called on all political leaders to refrain from all acts of violence or incitement to violence during the elections.

  • They urged political leaders to respect the Code of Conduct drafted by them and agreed on, refrain from any acts of intimidation or incitement to violence, and commit themselves to accept the results of the elections once they are approved by the Independent National Electoral Commission.

AFGHANISTAN: U.N. MISSION TROUBLED BY ABDUCTION OF ITALIAN AID WORKER

  • The UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan today said it is deeply troubled by the abduction of Clementina Cantoni, an Italian employee of the aid group CARE, who it said is an exemplary humanitarian aid worker who has devoted many years of her life to helping the poor. She has spent three years in Afghanistan, working with widows and children, the Mission noted.

  • The UN Mission wishes for her speedy and safe release.

  • The Mission also says that a core group of essential international staff from UN agencies returned to the province of Nangarhar yesterday. The United Nations had relocated all international staff in that province to Kabul following last week’s violent demonstrations in Jalalabad, but the situation there has calmed down recently.

  • Further returns of international staff will be organized if the situation remains calm and stable.

PALESTINIANS NEED IMPROVED ACCESS TO OUTSIDE WORLD

  • The UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) is currently holding a meeting in Amman, Jordan, with its major donors.

  • The agency’s officials briefed donors on UNRWA contingency plans relating to the Israeli disengagement from Gaza.

  • The Agency told donors that even large amounts of international aid would not help the two-thirds of Gaza that live in abject poverty unless Palestinians were given much-improved access to the outside world.

  • During the meeting, the United States announced a donation of $20 million to UNRWA’s Emergency Appeal for the West Bank and Gaza to support food aid programmes in particular.

  • On a related note, the UN Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT) is organizing a training seminar for newly elected Palestinian mayors. The course, which is taking place in Egypt, will focus on management and leadership skills.

U.N. APPEALS FOR FUNDS TO ALLEVIATE NIGER’S FOOD CRISIS

  • The United Nations has issued a flash appeal for Niger, asking for more than 16 million dollars to combat the severe food crisis threatening the country. Immediate needs include food aid for some 3.6 million people in nearly 4,000 villages.

  • The appeal, which will last from now until the end of September, focuses on helping malnourished children under the age of five, as well as pregnant women.

TREATY FORBIDS COUNTRIES FROM PUTTING NUCLEAR WEAPONS IN SPACE

  • Asked about the UN’s position concerning reports that the United States may consider deploying weapons in outer space, the Spokesman referred to the Outer Space Treaty of 1967, which states that outer space is not subject to national appropriation by claim of sovereignty, by means of use or occupation, or by any other means.

  • He noted that Article Four of that Treaty says that States shall not place nuclear weapons or other weapons of mass destruction in orbit or on celestial bodies or station them in outer space in any other manner; and it also says that the Moon and other celestial bodies shall be used exclusively for peaceful purposes.

  • The United States ratified that treaty in 1967, the Spokesman observed.